China aims to expand its power in the Pacific with its new Fujian aircraft carrier

China’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier has entered service, Chinese state media said Friday, in a major step for the world’s largest navy as it seeks to challenge U.S. dominance in the Pacific.

HONG KONG — China’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier has entered service, Chinese state media said Friday, in a major step for the world’s largest navy as it seeks to challenge U.S. dominance in the Pacific.

The Fujian is China’s third aircraft carrier but the first to be both designed and built domestically. It features an electromagnetic catapult system that allows for aircraft launches with heavier payloads compared with existing launch systems, according to CCTV, China’s state-run broadcaster.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping presided over the carrier’s commissioning on Wednesday at a military port on the island of Hainan in a ceremony attended by over 2,000 naval officers and construction personnel, CCTV said.

Both of China’s previous aircraft carriers used a ski-jump type system, which is unable to handle fighter jets carrying heavier loads or large support aircraft. Its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was made by the Soviet Union while its second, the Shandong, was built in China based on the Soviet model.

The Fujian’s three electromagnetic catapult positions “were particularly noticeable” along the flight deck, the CCTV report said, which also featured China’s new carrier-based jets: the stealth-fighter J-35, the heavy-fighter J-15T, and the early-warning aircraft KJ-600.